Terrifying birds. Nothing in media or zoos can prepare you for a close overhead swoop as it lands on the lowest branch of a nearby tree… maybe 8 feet from the Earth’s surface. Polarizing. I was left in awe and fearing for my life.

Right? What if he’s correct in his assessment? All of us out here experiencing mid salmon when we could be having the best at our local Ruby’s.

Good to know!

With only a few generations of inbreeding, you too can have blistering sausage fingers like this man of nobility.

In my late 40s, hippie speed balls every morning. Bad(?) habit I picked up (again) within the past five years. Like a few other have said, it really levels me out, giving me the ability to fine tune my focus first thing in the morning. The absurdities at work nearly require marijuana consumption. Being a midday slug has been the only downside.

I don’t have anywhere or anyone else to share my ever-growing collection of Critter pics, so here’s three. Thanks in advance for tolerating my “proud parent” psychosis.

Critter thanks you! He seems to be astounding in just about every way. I’m vonvinced every decent human being should should have a cat.

Thank you! He is loved, and probably spoiled. As am I now.

That makes three of us so far! I think this is how to start a cult. Regardless, Critter appreciates your devotion.

Thank you! As much as we took him in, he took us in just as hard. He just needed a house to build his small colony.

Thanks for the excellent tip! My wife has had cats before, one notable long haired, and was familiar with the necessity, but not clear on frequency or suggestion of professional assistance. We’ve been using pet wipes in the few times we found a necessity. He keeps himself really clean, which I find admirable as a mildly OCD clean freak myself.

Thanks! You’re not kidding. Not to sound sappy, but in my late 40s now, I’ve been hitting that midlife existential crisis button hard for several years. Thinking about success, legacy, mortality. Devil’s plaything thoughts from lack of living. Since Critter showed up, I can’t recall having those thoughts.

He gives the best cuddles already, so I can’t wait for weighted blanket level snugs from a monster kitty!

I had hoped to net a groundhog with the rule, but Critter will suffice 🙂

Thanks for all the RL advice! We’re a child-free couple (I have an estranged one from a previous nightmare), so we’re probably already oversensitive to all of his needs. Being my first pet, and a kitten at that, learning how activeness can escalate from 0-10 immediately has been a experience. Yesterday, he was just chillin’ and I was convinced there was something wrong. He reminded me that I was being oversensitive by pouncing on my arm and playfully gnawing the heck out of it.

Vet thinks he may have some Norwegian Forest Cat in him. Stray, so who knows.

Wildlife love our backyard. We’ve had a family of groundhogs, skunks, raccoons, oppossums, gorgeous arrays of birds, specifically geese… lots of geese.

I adore these animals for no good reason, so much so I donned the house in cameras to catch their goings-on. It’s essentially a 24/7 parade of cute.

So my dumb rule. If any of them ever want to willingly enter our home AND allow us to bathe them, they can stay.

Not only did Critter essentially invite himself in, he also allowed us to give him a Dawn dishsoap bath in our bathtub (figuring if Dawn is safe for ducks, this lil fella would be fine). Not only did he allow this, he didn’t make a sound, fight back, or anything. Just a peaceful little wet mess of fur (with gigantic paws). Wrapped him up in a towel (tossed in the dryer for maximum warmth) and sat on the deck under the afternoon sun when he dried/rested. Even with the rule, we decided on a 2 week trial. That lasted less than a day.

Nothing exciting, but the probability of it all atop the impact his limited time with us has had. Just a lovely critter.

Armchair psychologist here also trying to figure himself out before the inevitable end.

I don’t think this is as much of an uncontrollable craze as it is hyper-awareness of your passive actions/thoughts. Imagine the opposite of complete, nothing to react to, ignorance x 10. I’m a perfectionist and a problem solver. I have to earn leisure through productivity. I constantly desire more of everything. I’m over-observant with grainy photographic memory. AND I’m hyper-aware of everything all the time. It may be my brain’s desire to consume or collect information, even if it’s trivial or irrelevant. This includes the passively hyper-focused observation of others.

You do it with dudes as well. Pets, cars, mailboxes. You get the idea. The only reason women stand out to you is likely because that’s just what you’re interested in. There was some faux research done a million years ago about how frequently men think about sex, and it was just short of nearly all the time. Since then debunked, but I still think it’s impossible for researchers to access the human subconscious, or our background processes. But like you said, you’re a heterosexual guy. It’s what we do. I too look at everyone I cross. Some stick with me, some generate uncontrollable thoughts or controllable urges.

I haven’t a clue what our current purpose is beyond the parasitization of Earth, but I imagine like all other living, breathing mammalia and friends, we were built for procreation, so it’s also only natural your brain is hot for the ladies. You’re just oversensitive to your thoughts, and then obsess over the thoughts, and then wind up here seeking advice. Or wait, is that me?

Kids (1995)

Similar to Requiem, a one-time-only must-watch.

Requiem for a Dream. You’re absolutely correct, a one-time-only must-watch. I always enjoyed re-watching films with friends, but this one is a no go. One thousand years ago, I added the DVD release to my collection on release. Where I grew up, our movie theater only carried ultra-mainstream titles, so when films like Requiem released to theaters, it was either a 2+ hour trek to the nearest metropolitan area or just wait for it to release on DVD. I could be misremembering, but I believe the DVD case was one of those awful cardboard cases with the plastic clip. Anyway, it was mixed in with the rest of the DVD collection I proudly displayed in my living room (we all did this). At least until I had to refuse requested viewing by different guests not once, but twice. Fortunately, somewhere around that same time, I pumped the brakes on tangible media, and started gathering digital rips. Packed all that valueless stuff up, and shoved it up in the attic.